Increasing capacity of a biogas plant at Schwäbisch Hall

Construction of the new casing for the 7,500 m³ digestate storage tanks

Aerial photographs of Michael Reber´s biogas plant. To the right are the new digestate storage tanks (Source: Dominik Bischoff)

The agriculturalist Michael Reber is in good spirits. His biogas plant, which was commissioned in 2009, will soon provide sufficiently more power and consequently improve productivity. At the end of August 2015, the centerpiece of the capacity expansion - the digestate storage tanks - was constructed.

On behalf of Mr. Reber, GICON planned the plant expansion and supported the operator in the lengthy authorization procedure.

The enlargement of the biogas plant, which in the future will be subject to the Hazardous Incidence Ordinance, was approved by the Stuttgart Regional Council during the summer.

The plant supply will strengthen the micro gas network for the public services

The biogas plant can now handle larger amounts of the solid and liquid manure feedstocks from their own livestock and coop farms as well as renewable raw materials. In the new casing of the 7,500 m³ digestate storage tanks, the fermented product that forms during the fermentation process will be safely stored and remain free of emissions until it is redistributed on the fields.

"With the expansion of the biogas plant, the efficiency is significantly increased," explains project manager Thomas Ehrmann GICON. "After the completion of the digestate storage tanks later this year, Mr. Reber can expect about 2.3 million cubic meters of biogas annually. Eventually, the electric power will be increased by 35%."

Most of the biogas produced is delivered via a micro gas network to Dept. of Public Works for the city of Schwäbisch Hall. In perspective, the agriculturalist plans to increase the capacity of the plant further in parallel to the performance upgrade. With biogas generated by the plant, the Dept. of Public Works operates several combined heat and power plants (CHPs), which provide 100% of the district heating network to the city.

High demands fortheapproval planning

In 2008, the original biogas plant was granted a building permit. Since 2011, in the wake of several changes in the law, the biogas plant has been subject to the Federal Pollution Control Act (BImSchG) and must consequently comply with higher environmental standards. In order to demonstrate that the plant complies with these standards, GICON created the necessary preliminary planning and technical reports. A particular consideration was the native lowland hay meadow in the adjacent area north of the plant, which fell under the Habitats Directive.

Despite several delays in the approval process, the permit for the construction and trial operation of Mr. Reber´s new CHP was obtained in July 2014. The first partial license for the regular continuous operation was issued in January 2015. In July 2015, the overall approval was finalized, and in August 2015, the start of construction could commence. "Even taking into consideration the complex approval process, I am pleased that the project can now be fully realized," summarized Mr. Reber.

More than a dozen biogas plants already optimized

The biogas experts from GICON have already optimized more than a dozen biogas plants. By systematically exploiting the technical and economic potentials of the plants, their capacity could be increased considerably. As of August 2015, Thomas Ehrmann has been supporting the GICON Group, in particular in southern Germany.